Sign inAccents
As you might already know, we have many different accents in the English language like Irish, British, Scandinavian, North American, etc.
What is Accent?
Accent is based on the phonology of the language. It is associated with how people pronounce words in a particular region, country, or society. In addition, the accent is part of the dialect that only has focus on pronunciation. The accent is affected by factors like geographical region, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and social class.
Why Do People Have Different Accents?
Different accents reflect different cultural histories of people, and that requires a study of the history of languages. Notice that accents are inevitable in speaking a foreign language, the important point is trying to pronounce words correctly and obey the stress rules.
Types of Accents
All accents are divided into four general groups. Take a look at the list below:
- Standard Accent
- Regional Accent
- Social Accent
- Ethnic Accent
Standard Accent
A standard accent is an accent for a language or variety of a language that is regionless rather than regional. It is associated with high status on a social, political, and economic level. In brief, It is a version of the pronunciation that must be taught to language learners. Here are some of the most common standard English accents:
- American English Accent
- British English Accent
- Canadian English Accent
- Australian English Accent
- Scottish English Accent
- Indian English Accent
- Irish English Accent
- Welsh English Accent
Regional Accent
This type of accent is a variety that is spoken by a group of people in a particular region or area. Remember that it is different from the standard variety that is being used in the same place. Here are some of the most common regional accents of English around the world:
The Map of United states of America's Accents
The Map of United States of America's Accents
United States of America
There are main groups of regional accents in America. Take a look at these different accents and their examples:
- General American Accent: It refers to 'standard American English' that is spoken by middle-class Americans in media, university, news and etc. In general American 'r' is always pronounced at the end of the words.
As you can see, in general American words like 'lot' are pronounced with an unrounded vowel.
As you can see, in words like 'man' with short 'a', the vowel is raised and diphthongized before nasal consonants
- New York City Accent: This is one of the most famous accents in America. New Yorkers usually drop the the 'r' at the end of their syllables. the long 'a' is usually pronounced back and rounded in this accent. It is also known as some other names such as Bronx accent, Long Island accent, or Brooklyn accent.
Here, the 'r' is dropped. (this is called non-rhoticity)
As you can see, Th long 'a' is rounded and the 'r' is dropped.
- Southern Accent: This accent is spoken by Appalachian natives, Texans, Tennesseans and many others. Some of its features are non-rhoticity, vowel breaking and Pin-pen merger. People speaking with this accent always pronounce vowels longer than the Northerner people.
In this example, words with short vowels like this can turn into diphthongs or even triphthongs.
'
In this example, words ending in -in, -en, -im and -em are pronounced with the same vowel. (this is called pin-pen merger)
Here, the 'r' is not pronounced at the end of the word.
lime sounds like 'laam' / la:m/
As you can see, The diphthong 'lime' tends to be pronounced as a monophthong.
- Midland American Accent: They can best be described as being a combination of Northern and Southern features. You can find this accent in states like Missouri, Southern Indiana, Southern Illinois, Southern Pennsylvania, Kansas, Oklahoma and others. Midland speech is firmly rhotic and it is based on cot-caught merger
Here, cot-caught merger happened and merged the vowels into a short 'a'.
Here, some people add an additional 'r' after the 'a' sound.
- Northern American Accent: There are some general rules in learning a North American accents that mostly include assimilation, intrusion and elision. It is spoken in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester and Cleveland.
"Don’t you just love the food here?" sound like "
Here, the sound of the word has changed to make it easier to link the next word. (assimilation)
"He asked me a favor" sounds like "
Here, an intrusion happened. It means when a new sound shows up between two existing sound.
"he lives next door" sound like " he lives
Here, an elision happened. It means when a sound is removed in the middle of two sounds.
- Western American Accent: Accents here can range from sounding a bit Southern, to having a Canadian flavor. There is one dominant feature here that is called the Cot-Caught Merger, it happens when the two separate vowels /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ have merged and sound identical.
As you can see, both of them are pronounced with the vowel /a/ (side-forward).
- Northern New England Accent (classic Boston accent) :It is spoken in Boston, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Eastern New Hampshire and Eastern Connecticut. Non-rhoticity or 'r-dropping' pronunciation and 'nasal-a' sound are characteristics of New England accents.
Here, we have a nasal sound of 'a'.
- North Central Accent: It is mostly spoken in in Minnesota, North Dakota and a few areas in Iowa. This accent somehow overlaps with Northern accent although it has some specific features such as rhoticity and pin-pen merger. The most noticeable marker of North central accent is the vowels.
The Map of Great Britain's Accents
The Map of Great Britain's Accents
Great Britain
There are a lot of different accents in Great Britain. but here, we are going to learn the main groups. Take a look at the list below:
- The standard British accent (the Queen's English): People who live in the southeastern of England, usually speak with this accent. This accent is under the influence of received pronunciation that is known for the lack of an R at the end of words and using long 'a' sound.
- Southeast Accent ( Estuary English): This accent is somehow similar to southern accent, but some features are different including 'ai' pronounced as 'oi'.
As you can see, the 'L' at the end of the words often becomes a vowel (L-vocalization).
- Southwest Accent (West Country): The 'r' in this accent is pronounced at the end of the word. It is starting from West of London and extending to the Welsh border.
- East Anglian Accent: It is spoken in East Anglia of England. East Anglian normally do not drop 'h', though some local speakers do. This accent is non-rhotic, meaning that 'r' is dropped at the end of the words. Also it is specifically Yod-dropping, which is the elision of the /j/ from certain syllable-initial.
As you can see, Yod-dropping happened here.
- Northern Accent: In this area we have a variety of accents such as Geordie and Yorkshire which are the most famous Northern accents comparison to a southern accent it sounds a bit rougher but a bit friendlier. One of the main features is the use of 'oo' instead of 'uh'. You can hear this in cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool.
Here, the 'au' diphthong is pronounced as 'oo'.
As you can see, the 'ai' diphthong is changed and turned into separate vowel sounds.
- Midlands Accent: It can be divided into East Midlands and West Midlands. The most famous midlands accent is Brummie or Birmingham English. One of its main features is the foot-strut merger.
In this example, the syllable in 'foot' and 'could' is pronounced with the same syllable as 'strut' and 'fudge'(foot-strut merger).
Here, the 'i' sound is often replaced with 'oy' in Brummie.
As you can see, in midlands 'i' becomes 'ee'.
- Cockney: It is one of the most famous British accents that is originated in the East End of London. It is usually spoken by working-class Londoners and it has different features that are mentioned below in the examples.
As you can see, those who speak with this accent usually drop the letter '
As you can see, they can also drop the letter '
In this example, they can also drop the letter '
Here, like most British accents, '
As you can see, '
- Scottish Accent: This is a version of English accent that is spoken in Scotland. It is generally rhotic (the 'r' is tapped) and glottal stopping of the letter t happens when it is in between vowels.
As you can see, The long ‘oo’ sound is often shortened to the shorter ‘oo’ sound. this is one of the features of Glaswegian accent that varies from Scottish English accent.
- Welsh Accent: It refers to the accents spoken in the country of Wales. The way they speak is mainly influenced by Welsh language.
As you can see, rolling the 'r' sound is very important in Welsh accent.
Here, the 'o' is stretched out and the 'ing' suffix is said 'en'.
- Irish Accent: The Irish accent is rhotic or has the rolling 'R' as well as American accent. This accent tends to have a very musical intonation The Irish accent is divided into two different accents which are east coast Irish (Dublin) and Northern Irish.
'choose me on
As you can see, the 't' is pronounced like 'ch' in Irish accent.
Tip!
There are two main accents that native people in London speak, the first one is Cockney which originated in the East End of London and is spoken by working-class Londoners. The second one is Estuary English and it is mainly spoken near the River Thames and its estuary. It is important to know that the standard British accent or Queen's English is not a local accent at all. It is the accent that English learners should learn but it's not the usual accent that British people would normally speak.
The Canadian Accent
It is similar to the general American accent but the difference is in diphthongs; that is two vowels are combined in a single syllable producing one sound. The reason why 'about' is pronounced 'aboot' or 'out' is 'oou'.
The Australian Accent
The Australian accent is known for pronouncing the '-ing' at the end of words with an '-en', meaning words like 'meaning' can sound more like 'meanen'. Also like British English, the Australian accent is non-rhotic, so the 'R' at the end of words is rarely pronounced.
The final distinguishing characteristic is diphthongs, a sound made up of two vowels in a syllable. Words like 'mountain' can sound more like 'maountain', or 'town' like 'taown'.
The Indian Accent
The Indian English accent is a variety of English language that is spoken in India. Indian accent is influenced by the British accent, however, it has its own patterns that set it apart from the British accent. Speakers with Indian accents produce consonant sounds differently. It is common for Indian accented speakers to stop the air for the 'th' sounds (e.g. "thigh" and "then"), so the 'th' sounds like a 't' or a 'd'. The 'v' and 'w' sounds are sometimes interchangeable, so 'vine' may sound like 'wine'.
It is a type of accent related to a particular social class spoken by a group of people. In this type, social background is more effective than the geographical background. All social factors that can change one's accent are mentioned below:
- Social Class (socioeconomic)
- Education
- Gender
- Profession
- Age
- Place of Residence
- Religion
- Cultural Background
Common Examples of Socioeconomic Effects in England
living at an upper-class or lower-class level of society can change one's accent. Here are some of the main differences:
- Words that start with 'h': there are two types of pronunciation for this letter. As we go through lower-class societies, we will see the reduction of 'h' pronunciation more and more.
- 'r' that comes right after a vowel: the upper-class society tends to remove the sound of 'r'.
- The '-ing' suffix: upper-class societies tend to say 'in' instead of 'inj'.
Tip!
It is interesting to know that most people around the world belong to more than one social group at one time. For example, a
Ethnic Accent
When a group of people with the same ethnicity have their own variety of pronunciations of the same language, it is called an ethnic accent. These groups of people mark their ethnicity in this way. Here are some of the most common ethnic English accents:
- African-American English in the U.S.A. (black English or Ebonics): It has some particular features like TH-fronting, metathesis and non-rhotic. For example:
Here, we have 'metathesis' which means switching around sounds within words.
As you can see, this is called TH-fronting.
As you can see, African-American is one of many non-rhotic accents in the USA.
- London Jamaican in Britain: There are some phonological key features that separate London Jamaican from other accents. For example:
- Aboriginal English in Australia: The sound system of Aboriginal English has been influenced by the traditional languages and like other ethnic accents, it has some specific features. For example:
As you can see, one of the main features of aboriginal English is the omission of the 'h' sound'.
As you can see, in aboriginal English the initial 'f' changes to the initial 'b'.
Here, the initial 'th' changes to 'd'.
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Contents
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Consonants
Vowels
Social Accents